Notes from the front line at greenwich

Racial harassment isn't just a matter for the police anymore. Social landlords and councils should be taking civil actions against perpetrators; but they also need to work closely with criminal justice agencies to achieve solutions. To this end, this article offers case data from the borough of Greenwich in south-east London.

Greenwich is where Stephen Lawrence was murdered, and where his memorial continues to be attacked. The highest number of reported racist incidents in London also occur in this borough: Greenwich police recorded 923 potentially racially motivated incidents from April 2002 to March 2003. Of those, 760 were crimes: 532 (70%) were violent crimes. Another 210 (28%) were cases of criminal damage and 18 (2%) were other types of incidents. Now, 141 cases are going to court. Not all suspects will be charged with racially motivated offences. Some may not be charged at all.

But the Probation Service collected data on 266 of the offences. This information challenges some myths about racial harassment.

Who are the perpetrators?
The age range for racially motivated offenders is broader than for all offenders. Of racially motivated offenders, 34% are under 21 and, atypically, there is no fall-off in offending between the ages of 21 and 40. The mean age for male offenders is 27.9 and 27.5 for females.

The age of offenders partly reflects the type of offence. The mean age for perpetrators of racial harassment is 31, compared to 26 for the more serious racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage.

Only about 18% of offenders were female, meaning men are four times as likely to be arrested for racially motivated offences. This reflects the proportion for offenders as a whole. The number of men involved in racially aggravated assaults and harassment is equal (45% each).

Women commit fewer assaults but are more likely to be involved in racial harassment. Since racial harassment often occurs between neighbours, social landlords should note the relatively high involvement of women and people over the age of 21 in these types of offence.

Racially motivated offences by neighbours were the most common; there is a significant problem for landlords here

The race of the offender is known in 261 of the 266 cases studied: 84% white, 8% black and 4% Asian, with the remainder Chinese/Vietnamese, mixed-race or Turkish. Out of the predominately white perpetrator group, 19% are female. Of the black perpetrators, 27% are female but only 10% of the Asian offenders were female. No Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, or mixed race female perpetrators were recorded.

There is another important lesson for social landlords here: racial harassment is not just white perpetrators attacking black victims.

People and property
A worryingly high percentage of offences are against people, as opposed to property (91% and 9% respectively). However, this may reflect the difficulty of apprehending those responsible for criminal damage. Social landlords will be particularly concerned to ensure their tenants report racist criminal damage quickly to maximise the chances of the offender being caught.

Who are the victims?
The race of the victim was known in 239 of the 266 cases. Out of these, 80% of offences were against black and Asian people. There were also 10 cases of criminal damage to the Stephen Lawrence memorial. People at work were most likely to be the victim of racially motivated offences (82%). This reflects the victimisation of Asian shopkeepers.

However, the risk for black people appears evenly spread across different scenarios. Social landlords should note that black people are more likely to be offended against by neighbours or as bystanders in public places than Asian people, and they are also at some risk in work roles. Racially motivated offences by neighbours were the most common, though the number of neighbourhood disputes dealt with by housing departments rather than the police is not known. There is a significant problem for social landlords here.

The lessons from Greenwich are that most racist incidents occur between neighbours; the perpetrators are not all white young men and the victims are not all black.